New Products

If you're using the Lustre FS on your HPC system, you might be able to
improve your performance with LSI Corporation's new Engenio 2600-HD, a
high-density storage system that delivers a reported 40GB/s of throughput
and scaling to 1.8 PB of capacity in a single standard rack. LSI says
that Engenio's 2600-HD's highly scalable, dense architecture helps HPC
organizations maximize productivity and achieve a quicker time to results,
while minimizing data-center floor space and overall energy consumption.
The system consists of two LSI 6Gb/s SAS-based controllers integrated
into the new Engenio DE6600 high-density SAS drive enclosure. The system
is capable of sustaining up to 4GB/s of throughput and housing up to 60
SAS drives in a 4U space.

The latest open gear from Opengear is the company's new ACM5004-G
mobile 3G cellular router for secure high-speed wireless connectivity
to remote sites and devices. The compact, industrial-grade device,
which delivers real-time access, monitoring and control regardless
of location, has an open-source Linux core and offers local custom
scripting. Key features include ubiquitous routing, secure remote
control, extensive monitoring and alerts, remote power management,
support for custom apps and external USB.

Mathematica from Wolfram Research, a favorite tool of Linux-geek
number-crunchers everywhere, recently crossed the magic threshold of
version 8. The new version 8 of this powerful computation, development
and deployment platform adds free-form linguistic input via its novel
Wolfram|Alpha technology, which enables users to input plain English and
get immediate results without the need for syntax. Among the other 500
new additions are improved capabilities for statistical distributions and
data visualization, built-in GPU programming support, SymbolicC support,
integrated control systems, wavelets functions, option pricing solvers
and feature detection in image processing. Mathematica 8 is available
for Linux x86, Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista/7.

With a title like Badass LEGO Guns, how can you not judge a book by
its cover? This fun new book by Martin Hüdepohl and published by No
Starch Press illustrates how to build five eclectic weapons entirely
from LEGO Technic parts that can shoot plastic LEGO bricks at high
speed with a high level of accuracy. The builder adds only rubber bands,
some sanding and a touch of Krazy Glue to build these functional
fusils, each with its own kick-butt nickname:
the Warbeast submachine gun, the Thriller and Mini-Thriller crossbows,
the Parabella mini-marvel and the Lilliputt semi-automatic pistol with a
nine-brick magazine. The models range from sophisticated to simple, and
“builders of all ages will find something enjoyable”, notes the publisher.

Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson, authors of the
new 3rd edition of Building the Perfect PC, say you don't even
need to be a geek to build your own PC. Well, we are geeks and we want to build our own PCs too. As talented
as we are though, we may want to pick up the Thompson team's updated
book to make sure we don't blow it. The payoff is a PC that is of higher
quality and lower cost than off-the-shelf models. The authors explain
what components you'll need as well as where to find them. They also
explain how to build for your OS of choice and take advantage of the
latest multicore CPUs. Instructions cover how to build numerous types
of PCs, including a general-purpose computer, an extreme gaming machine,
a media center, an appliance, a low-cost PC or a home server.